A reminder to our Bushwalkers Click the Green Program button to get details of our next walk Email Bryan on/before the Monday if you wish to join that week's walk The following day a list of Walkers will be emailed to members We have a maximum of 30 Walkers on each walk Remember to wear your name tag
14 December 2022 Black Hill, Kyneton Our final walk for 2022 was led as usual by John Butselaar at the Black Hill Reserve north of Kyneton. This year the walk route had to be modified to take into account track closures around the reserve. The weather to the west looked a bit threatening at times but apart from a minor bit of drizzle we enjoyed another wonderful walk. Following the walk we repaired to John's home at Kyneton for a wonderful and relaxing lunch. At the end of lunch the Golden Walking Pole was transferred to Bryan Fitzgerald to hold on behalf of the convening group for 2023. While the walk program for 2023 is already progressing well, there are still some walk dates available for members who wish to lead (or co-lead) a walk. Thanks again John and Robyn
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30 November 2022 Tarnagulla Walkers journeyed to Tarnagulla where Sue and Angie lead a stroll around the town and pointed out interesting historical features. Thank Sue and Angie.
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23 November 2022 Kalimna Park Castlemaine Eighteen walkers enjoyed a leisurely stroll through Kalimna Park Castlemaine. The Golden Everlastings were everywhere. Alan originally planned our walk to be south of Castlemaine but the heavy rain over recent weeks required a change to the program. Peter has an extensive knowledge of Kalimna Park and he provided assistance to lead the walk which included visiting the Kaweka nature park. Thanks Peter and Alan.
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9 November 2022 Moonlight Flat Thirteen walkers enjoyed a spring walk around Moonlight Flat. We followed parts of Dirty Dicks Gully and Sailors Gully. The trail was wet in places but was easy to navigate. There were a couple of steep inclines which tested the fitness of some members. It was lovely to see lots of Chocolate Lillies (purple) and Everlasting (yellow) wildflowers. Thanks Jules and Keith
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26 October 2022 Fryers Ridge Taradale Eighteen walkers braved the prospect of a rainstorm to enjoy exploring the wildflowers at Fryers Ridge. Keith has a good knowledge of the walking tracks in this area and was able to guide us around difficult water crossings that had emerged due to the extensive rain that had fallen in the area in recent days. Thanks Keith.
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12 October 2022 Red, White and Blue Mine Muckleford Six members joined with Greg to explore the wild flowers and mining remnants around the Red, White and Blue Mine at Muckleford. Heavy rain was falling in Castlemaine at 7.30am but it didn’t start raining at Muckleford until after morning tea at about 11am. Greg confidently lead us off track and cross country and explained the abandoned mining sites at Dunns Reef and Tunnel Hill. Thanks Greg for leading the walk.
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28 September 2022 Walmer Nineteen members enjoyed a peaceful and gentle walk around the Walmer bush today. The spring wildflowers provided an interesting tapestry of colours. Thanks Bill for leading the walk and Deb’s coffee, tea and cake was enjoyed by all.
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14 September 2022 Muckleford Thirteen walkers enjoyed a quiet stroll around the Muckleford Railway Station. Heather explained some of the history of the railway track and interesting incidents that have been reported about events in the 1800s. The blue sky was very pleasant. On arrival at Muckleford Station were lucky to see the train pass on its way to Castlemaine and on our return it was on its way back to Maldon. Thanks Heather and Sharon
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31 August 2022 Big Hill Bendigo Eleven walkers took on the challenge to walk up Big Hill (423m) at the southern entrance to Bendigo. The weather was perfect and the view to the south was impressive. We enjoyed Bryan’s short address on the farming history of the Ravenswood Run. The later part of the walk was a meander along the Coliban water channel. We took the northern fork in the track which resulted in a slightly longer than expected but nonetheless enjoyable walk. Thanks Tricia and Bryan
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24 August 2022 Brisbane Ranges Today’s walk was in the Brisbane Rangers 90 kms south of Castlemaine. We started and finished at the Boar Gully Camp Ground. The day was cloudy and we were fortunate it remained dry during our walk. We enjoyed walking on good tracks and the vegetation included large areas of golden wattles and impressive grass trees. At the conclusion we enjoyed lunch in Ballan. Thanks Deb for leading us at a location that was new to all walkers.
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10 August 2022 Castlemaine Sixteen members attended today’s annual Soup Walk. There was lots of soup and bread and we all enjoyed filling our mugs more than once with a variety of soups to taste. The walk was to the north of Castlemaine and it was good to see the start of the wild flower season. Thanks Julie and Bryan for leading the walk and a special thanks to the cooks who prepared the soup and bread and the soup warmers. We enjoyed everything.
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27 July 2022 Fryerstown Fifteen walkers met at the Octopus for a walk around Fryerstown. Before leaving we took time to reminisce about and remember our good friend Kevin Vallence who had sadly passed away the previous week. The group parked at the Burke and Wills Mechanics Institute in Fryerstown. From there we walked around the old township hearing about its history, its buildings still standing, and those long gone. After a few kilometres we stopped to admire the magnificent Lambruk Estate, home to 1860s Mosquito mine owner Edward Rowe. From there we walked along Sugarbag track, then made our way cross country to the Fryerstown cemetery and the Blackhawk mine before returning to our cars. The weather was mostly cloudy and mild, with a short shower during the cross country section of our walk. Thanks Alan
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13 July 2022 Walmer State Forest It was a lovely clear crisp morning as we headed into the Walmer State Forest along some of the bike tracks and minor roads that meander through the bush land. Some early wattles brightened the landscape and groups of choughs reacted to our presence. We checked out the progress on the amenity block at The Pines which is being developed by DEWLP as a gathering place for mountain bikers and others using the trails. The final kilometre of our walk followed the mountain bike blue trail. Morning tea was enjoyed at the Wiglesworth’s home after the walk. Thanks Bill and Deb.
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29 June 2022 North Harcourt to Sedgwick Twelve members walked the Coliban Water Channel from North Harcourt to Sedgwick. It was a very pleasant grade with only a couple of steep sections. Thanks John for organising the walk and the complex car shuffle.
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22 June 2022 Vaughan Springs Fifteen walkers set off in cloudy conditions from the Vaughan Springs car park and headed for Tubal Cain Cornish chimney. We were grateful that Sue and Angie had reconnoitred the track because there were a number of track intersections. The day remained dry and we made it back to the car park by 12.30. On the way back to Castlemaine most walkers stopped for lunch at the Five Flags Hotel in Campbells Creek to celebrate the winter solstice. We are all looking forward to more daylight! Thanks Sue and Angie for leading the walk.
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8 June 2022 Tipperary Springs Daylesford Nine keen winter walkers met at Lake Daylesford to walk from Sailors Gully to Tipperary Springs and then back along the Gold Fields track. Wet weather gear was recommended however we only experience a light mist. Thanks to Greg for leading the walk and sharing his many childhood memories in the area.
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25 May 2022 Mt Alexander Harcourt Bryan B led us on an interesting 6 km walk around the highest part of the Mt Alexander Regional Park 744 metres above sea level. We walked out on Ballantinia track (Ballantinia antipode) https://www.castlemaineflora.org.au/pic/b/balla/baant.htm on the east side of the mount and then up a steep pinch to Langs Lookout where we enjoyed views to Sutton Grange. https://harcourt.vic.au/langs-lookout-mount-alexander/ The group followed the Gold fields track over to the West side of the range stopping for morning tea at Shepherds Flat. https://harcourt.vic.au/shepherds-flat-lookout/ We then went off track until reaching an abandoned Quarry https://heritage.harcourt.vic.au/harcourt-granite/near to our starting point. It was a relatively short walk and most members felt it was a good workout in our local bushland. Thanks BB.
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11 May 2022 Kalimna North Castlemaine Eleven members met opposite the Castlemaine Secondary College in Lawson Parade for a walk around Kalimna Park north. We began our walk, and soon arrived at the site of the Devonshire Reef mine where Peter Turner provided a brief history of the site. From there we wended our way up to the Tourist Road and across, following a foot pad down into Moonlight Flat. There is a big difference between the southern end of Kalimna Park and where we were walking in a more park-like environment with visible signs of mining including the ruin of a substantial stone house with ancient fruit trees around it. We continued past the grave of an unknown miner to the highest point in the park, before crossing over the Tourist Road again to return to our start point. Thanks to Peter Turner for an excellent walk which was full of interest.
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27 April 2022 Melville Caves Mt Kooyoora Our walk to Melville Caves and Mt Kooyoora was very enjoyable. It is about one hour from Castlemaine and certainly a different landscape to our local area. It has stunning granite boulders and great views of the countryside to the south. The weather was light mist and rain at times. It was good to be testing our coats. Thanks Greg for leading the group on the day.
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13 April 2022 Maldon With a couple of last minute withdrawals, eleven walkers tackled the slopes of Mt Tarrengower in near perfect conditions for walking. Interpretive boards at Anzac Hill and at the My Tarrengower tower provided the group with information about the area. This was supplemented by a couple of articles discovered by Bryan giving some information about Lisle's Reef and the Caledonian quartz kilns. Most of the group then stayed on for lunch at the Kangaroo Hotel. Thanks Bryan and Julie for leading the walk.
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30 March 2022 Chewton Eleven walkers enjoyed ascending The Monk south west of Chewton. We hiked on to the Dingo Park, inspected the Eureka Mine and strolled the Poverty Gully Channel back to the start of our journey.  Thanks to Heather for reading and sharing the 1862 publication (https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197093544?searchTerm=the%20monk%20Castlemaine)  which gave a colourful explanation of what past walkers to the Monk would have seen. We needed to use our imagination because the revegetation now blocks many of the described views! Thanks Heather and Sharon for leading the walk.
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23 March 2022 Elphinstone Sixteen walkers met at the Octopus today and car pooled a short drive to Elphinstone where we parked at a crossing over the Coliban main channel. Our walk followed the channel upstream for a short distance to a crossing where we followed a faint pad though the bush. We then followed a number of tracks west and south to near Taradale where we stopped in the bush for a break. From there we rejoined the Coliban main channel which we followed downstream to our start point. Thanks Brier and Frances (and Keith in absentia).
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9 March 2022 Creswick John lead fifteen members on the walk from La Gerche Forest to Lake St George Creswick. Again the weather was perfect. Most of the walkers joined us for a lovely lunch in Creswick. Thanks John.
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23 February 2022 North Chewton Castlemaine Fifteen members joined our walk in the Garfield Wheel/Golden Point bush north of Chewton. It is a very popular walk area and there are lots of tracks to be further explored. The weather was perfect. Thanks Deb for leading the walk.
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9 February 2022 Kalimna Park Castlemaine Eighteen members joined our first walk in 2022. The day was warm and provided pleasant walking conditions. It was an easy walk with a few steep inclines. Thanks Gerry for leading the walk and for arranging morning tea at The Dove.
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